Monthly Archives: May 2010

Fortunately, the talkative Cyn showed up to last weeks’ Twisted Nether Blogcast. Fimlys and Nibuca were gracious enough to let me go on at some length about battlegrounds, Children’s Week, professions, blogging – and put up with my terrible jokes. I had a great time and hope they did too. I hope you enjoy listening to it either on their site, or downloaded into your podcast software of choice.

One of the challenges with recording an interview is making sure that you’re accurate while also maintaining the flow of the conversation. I made a few outright errors that I’d like to correct now, while there are a few topics I’d like to expand further upon in later blog posts.

I’ll update this post with corrections as they come to light. It’s a long interview, so let me know if there’s something else I need to update.

Once again, thanks to Fimlys and Nibuca for having me as a guest on their show.

WINTERGRASP

I said that the Horde controls Wintergrasp 25-35% of the time on Durotan. According to Time Until Wintergrasp (the site I mentioned I couldn’t remember), the ratio on Durotan for May 2010 was 168-93 for the Alliance, or a 36% Horde win rate.

TOL BARAD

I stated, quite confidently, that the name of the upcoming Cataclysm PvP zone Tol Barad is taken directly from Tolkien. That part I stand behind. I was completely wrong in saying that there is a specific location in Tolkien’s work named Tol Barad, specifically the island in the River Sirion in ancient Beleriand. This island is called Tol Sirion, upon which stood the original Minas Tirith. (The Minas Tirith in Gondor that appears in The Lord of the Rings is named after this Noldor fortification.) This island was overrun by the forces of Morgoth led by Sauron (yes, that Sauron) and renamed Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the Isle of Werewolves.

You can insert your own Worgen joke here, if you like.

Fimlys was quite right that Tol Brandir, the island above the great Falls of Rauros on the River Anduin in LotR, is closest in sound to Tol Barad. Barad does appear in several place names, most famously Barad-dûr, the fortress of Sauron in Mordor, but also in Barad Eithel, the fortress of Fingolfin, and Barad Nimras, the sea-watchtower of Finrod.

In my head I had conflated Tol Sirion and Barad Eithel, which are geographically close but not identical. Sorry about that!

In Sindarin, Tol translates to “island” and Barad to “tower.” So if we attempt a translation of Tol Barad, it would be “the Island of the Tower,” “Tower Island,” or perhaps “The Fortified Isle.”

All of those are good enough names for a battleground, though Tower Island sounds a little cheesy and there’s already an Isle of Conquest. So while I find the name jarring (much like Prince Anduin) I can live with it.

It bugged me that I got this one wrong. I love Tolkien’s works and hate when I accidentally spread misinformation.

My guildmates would tell you I don’t talk much on Vent. It’s not that I won’t talk, it’s that I play in a very quiet environment at the end of a long day. I play at night when the kids are asleep, next to my spouse, usually with WoW on mute unless we are doing something that really requires coordination. The only sounds are me furiously spamming keys or sudden bursts of mouse clicks. Even when I’m on Vent I am far, far more likely to communicate via chat than voice. Call it a legacy of spending too much time in the BGs, but I’m not really big on Vent.

This is somewhat ironic considering that I spend most of my day on the phone talking people’s ears off. Some days you literally cannot get me to shut up. I talk, and talk, and talk some more.

I’ll do my best to ensure that the latter Cyn will be appearing on the Twisted Nether Blogcast tomorrow night at 11PM EDT/8PM PDT. My guildmate Psynister’s was on TNB a few weeks ago and was kind enough to suggest me to Fimlys and Nibuca, and I’m delighted to be on their show.

You can catch the live show tomorrow night at twistednether.net/live. They’ll have a livechat going, so even if the quiet Cyn shows up I’ll have a way to chatter. But I’m pretty certain Fim and Nib will have a tough time getting me to shut up.

The lack of Armory entries on level 1 characters has led to a lot of people thinking that you can’t use the new Remote Auction House application with level 1 bank toons.

Don’t worry. Your fabulous level 1 banker is safe. You can still use the Remote AH with them.

Here’s how.

Step 1: Go to Characters.

Step 2: Go to My Characters to view all of your characters, including those who don’t appear in the Armory.

Step 3: Sort by level and scroll to the bottom to find all your level 1 characters. Hit the Edit button on the top of the screen.

Step 4: Select the level 1 character you want to log in with. In this case, I’m choosing Seneschal, my Horde banker on Durotan.

Step 5: Click Done to set the level 1 character as your main character.

Step 6: Hit Home and you’re all set! You now can control all the Auction House features through the mobile application, even though you still can’t view your banker’s Armory profile. It’s a small price to pay for banking in style.

That’s it. To sum up:

Go to My Characters to view all your characters.

Hit Edit and choose the level 1 banker of your choice.

Hit Done to set them as your main character.

Go Home and select the Auction House to begin banking.

Spread the word — you don’t need to level up your bankers! Level 1 toons of the world, rejoice!

The Dungeon Finder tool is really great for twinking. Instances with their great loot are readily available, the Satchel of Helpful Goods contains great loot for a 19 twink, and you don’t have to walk to get there.

The problem, usually, is finding a group that can run the dungeon without falling apart. Cynwyn, my Mage twink, has yet to run Wailing Caverns all the way through.

I didn’t expect to turn Cynderblock into a full-time tank. My original goal was to make a PvP warrior for WSG. But after running several dungeons with Psynister, the value of having an at-level Protection Warrior optimized for tanking became clear.

And man, is she awesome fun to play.

The early instances – RFC, VC, WC, SFK – are fairly forgiving on new tanks. There are some difficult pulls in each, especially WC’s caster mobs, but a decent tank can manage.

A twink tank, though? A twink tank can chain pull like you see in heroics.

Warriors have the best time of it at level 19 because of their AoE threat generation through Thunderclap and deep tanking toolkit. Paladin tanks suffer without Consecrate, and Druids don’t have much beyond Swipe and taunt, though at least they have Swipe and Taunt!

Let’s look at how Cynderblock is set up.

TALENTS

I’m still experimenting a lot with Cynderblock’s talents. Right now she’s got 10 points in the Protection tree:

5/5 Shield Specialization

3/3 Improved Thunder Clap

1/3 Incite

1/3 Anticipation

I’m considering moving the point of Incite over to Anticipation to get more Dodge, and from more Dodge more Revenge. I’m also considering putting two points in Armored to the Teeth, just because she’s so loaded with armor… but for now I’ll stay 0/0/10.

To do #7 I use the relatively straightforward expedient of binding Revenge to my Thunder Clap and Sunder Armor keys, like so:

#showtooltip

/startattack

/cast Thunder Clap

/cast [stance:1] Overpower; [stance:2] Revenge

This lets me use the same macro in both Battle and Defensive stances and trigger the appropriate ability.

The constant AoE threat generated by Thunder Clap helps keeps mobs focused on you. (You’ll also do a huge amount of damage, because not many classes have AoE skills at 19.) Keep the Sunders flowing out, and hit Revenge when you need. Keep Taunt and Mocking Blow ready if someone gets uppity, and Heroic Strike in those rare cases Revenge is not available.

One note about Revenge — it is only available after you Dodge, Parry, or Block an attack, making it the perfect counterattack since you’ll be avoiding a lot of attacks. It holds a mob’s attention as well as Sunder Armor, if not a little better, and it dishes out the pain.

There are things I miss about playing a DPS warrior — Charge, Heroic Strike, Victory Rush, Overpower. But the Prot style is a lot of fun, and the more mobs you pull, the more buttons you get to push.

GEAR

Gearing a twink tank is pretty straightforward. You want Stamina for a big health pool, Armor and Agility for damage mitigation/avoidance, and Strength for threat production. You can get Defense from the Satchel with …of the Champion gear, and while you’ll never be Defense-capped, it helps out a lot.

Keep in mind that Dodge and Parry are important not only to lessen damage taken, but also to proc Revenge. Revenge is very important as your Rage dump. Use it instead of Heroic Strike. Seriously.

Here’s a quick rundown of the gear I think you should get.

HEAD

Lucky Fishing Hat (+15 Stam) is still the best you can get. 150 health from your hat is awesome, but you will need to fish in STV to get this. Otherwise, the Green Tinted Goggles (+8 Stam, +7 Spirit) should be considered standard equipment.

NECK

The Agility on the WSG Sentinel’s/Scout’s Medallion (+2 Stam, +6 Agi) edges it over the Thick Bronze Necklace (+3 Stam), even though you lose 10 health in the trade. The additional Dodge makes up for it while tanking, though I’d keep the crafted necklace around for when you want to Stamina stack and impress your friends.

The new Tumultuous Cloaks dropping from the Satchel of Helpful Things are great. You may need to run a lot of dungeons to get the ones you want, but hey, you’re the tank, right?

For tanks, I’d go with … of the Champion (+4 Str, +4 Stam, +4 Defense) if at all possible. The Defense contributes to your Parry and Dodge chances and offsets the lower Stamina and Strength contributions of this cloak.

The previous BiS cloak, the Sentry Cloak (+5 Agi, +4 Stam) isn’t really worth the money you’ll have to spend to get it, given that the Monkey cloak is superior. The Subterranean Cape (+4 Str, +4 Agi) and Glowing Lizardscale Cloak (+6 Agi, +2 Stam) are good drops, but not your end goal as a warrior tank.

I’m torn here. I think the Blackened Defias Armor (+4 Str, +3 Agi, +11 Stam) is probably the best tanking chestpiece, even though it’s leather and lower armor than some of the other options.

But it looks so UGLY on my dwarf!

Armor of the Fang (+8 Str, +8 Stam) and the BoA Polished Breastplate of Valor (+7 Str, +7 Stam, +6 Crit) are both good options for PvP and for looks. The BoA brings the most Armor of any piece listed here, 197. That’s more than 100 more Armor than the BDA and AotF.

I’ve seen the Tunic of Westfall (+8 Agi, +3 Stam) listed on some Warrior gear lists, but you should never get it. It’s a quest reward from the same Alliance quest as the one that gives you the Chausses of Westfall, which you should definitely take instead. More on that later.

The only other piece to consider is Toughened Leather Armor (+13 Stam), but those extra 20 health will cost you 4 Strength and 3 Agility. These are better for druid tanks or if you’re trying to win a health pool contest. Otherwise, skip ‘em.

For tanking you’ll want the +100 health enchant. The +4 All Stats one is a decent secondary option – possibly better for PvP, but probably not for tanking.

WRISTS

While the Cavedweller Bracers (+3 Str, +4 Stam, 71 Armor) are good all-purpose bracers that drop in RFC and will serve you well in both tanking and PvP, two quest rewards – the Beetle Clasps (+5 Stam, +2 Agi, 83 Armor, Alliance) and Steel-clasped Bracers (+6 Stam, +1 Spirit, 85 Armor, Horde) – surpass them as tanking bracers. I think the Beetle Clasps edge out the Steel-Clasped Bracers by a very narrow margin.

Thorbia’s Gauntlets (+8 Str, +3 Stam) are the clear winner here. These are great gauntlets that are a random world drop and often sold on the AH. There are some quest rewards (Hulking Gauntlets, Sandspire Gloves, Corin’s Handguards) that are adequate replacements while leveling but don’t come close to Thorbia’s attack power.

The belts out of the Satchel of Helpful Things again are excellent items for this slot. Warrior tanks should get Earthbound Girdle of the Champion (+5 Str, +5 Stam, +5 Defense), … of the Bear (+6 Str, +6 Stam), or … of Stamina (+10 Stamina).

The previous best in slot item, the Deviate Scale Belt (+5 Agi, +6 Stam) is still excellent (and can be crafted for you), but as a leather item it lacks the armor of the Earthbound Girdles. Cobrahn’s Grasp (+8 Str, +3 Agi) is a great mail belt but the lack of Stamina makes it less attractive than many of the other options for either PvP or tanking.

LEGS

The Chausses of Westfall (+5 Stam, +11 Str, 173 Armor, Alliance) are the best you can get, but they’re a quest reward on the Alliance side. They are superior to the leather Leggings of the Fang (+5 Str, +9 Agi, +4 Stam, 79 Armor) in due to the Strength and Armor bonuses offsetting the Agility of the Leggings.

This is the first slot where I’d say it’s worth faction changing your tank to get gear. They’re that good.

A less attractive, but still good option, are the Mighty Chain Pants (+5 Str, +5 Stam) or any of the green mail leggings … of the Bear (+5 Str, +5 Stam). All of these are BoEs and can handle a better armor enchant (Heavy Armor Kit, +24 Armor) than the BoPs (Medium Armor Kit, +16 Armor).

FEET

The Savage Trodders (+9 Stam, 134 Armor) have the edge on two key stats over the Silver-linked Footguards (+7 Stam, +3 Str, 129 Armor), but I’m not convinced that they’re better tanking boots. I don’t know, maybe I just like how they look?

The best tanking ring you can equip is the Seal of Sylvanas (+8 Stam, +3 Str, Horde), followed by the Seal of Wrynn (+3 Str, +3 Agility, +4 Stam, +4 Int, +3 Spi, Alliance).

Unfortunately, to get them both, you have to faction change. The Seal of Sylvanas is so good you should seriously consider it. The Seal of Wrynn is less attractive, but if you faction change for the Chausses of Westfall, you should pick this up too while you’re over there.

The next best rings you can get are the WSG PvP awards, Protector’s Band / Legionnaire’s Band (+4 Str, +4 Agi, +2 Stam). They’re identical and a good second ring if you don’t want to faction change.

The Blood Ring (+5 Stam) is an acceptable ring to use while gearing up.

TRINKETS

It’s a bit of a grind, but the Arena Grand Master (+12 Stam, on-use absorption bubble) is the best trinket at the level, bar none. But it’s admittedly not the easiest trinket to get, so here are some other options.

The other BoA trinket option, the Swift Hand of Justice (+6 Haste, heal on killing blow) is very attractive for tanking, especially if you run with two of them. They provide a slight boost to your DPS and a small stream of healing while fighting packs of trash. They’re not nearly as impressive on a warrior as they are on a caster, but they’re still good options.

Finally, the Minor Recombobulator is an acceptable option for swapping out with your PvP trinket if you need to help out your healer or other party member. There aren’t any polymorphing mobs in these dungeons (though the Druids of the Fang and their sleep spells can bite me), so that use effect is wasted, but the health/mana restoration can be helpful. Think of it as a minor Innervate!

RANGED

You’re not going to be using your ranged weapon very often as a twink tank — occasional pulls at best — so stats should determine your choice here. The Hand of Argus Crossfire (+1 Agi, +1 Stam, Alliance) is the best to get for a tank, beating out the Thick Bronze Darts (+2 Str) and Throat Piercers (+2 Agi). Those two have definite value in PvP, but the defensive value of the Crossfire trumps them here. If you’re Horde and not willing to faction change, it’s a tossup between the other two. The Thick Bronze Darts will help your AP and Block value, while the Throat Piercers will help your Dodge. I’d give the edge slightly to the Darts.

You should still put a +2 damage scope on your ranged weapon, if it can take it.

MAIN HAND

Choosing your main hand weapon can be tricky because some races will have Expertise bonuses for specific weapon types.

My dwarf uses the BoA Venerable Mass of McGowan (+4 Stam, +3 Agi, +4 AP, +2 Crit) in her main hand, increasing her Dodge while letting her benefit from her racial bonus.

Before the Mass she used Butcher’s Slicer (+4 Str, +3 Stam), which I think was little bit better than the Night Watch Shortsword (+4 Stam) because of the added strength. The Night Watch Shortsword looks so good though, that were I playing a human I’d probably prefer it over the Slicer for tanking. These two swords are better than the WSG rewards, the Protector’s/Legionnaire’s Sword (+4 Str, +2 Stam).

Another BoA worth mentioning is the Sharpened Scarlet Kris (+4 Stam, +6 AP, +3 Resil). I know, warriors tanking with daggers? If we’re going to go down that road, we might should also look at the Horde-only Dawnblade (+5 Stamina), normally used as a caster MH. I can’t recommend this (though I’ve seen it in the wild) because of the effects of Normalization on your DPS.

Good tanking axes are hard to find at this level. I’d go with Smite’s Reaver (+2 Str, +3 Stam, +2 Hit) or the crafted Bronze Axe (+3 Stam) if I was set on using an axe to capture the Orc racial bonus. But that bonus won’t overcome the lack of stats on these weapons.

The debate about the best twink enchant for your weapon rages on, but the contenders for tanking are: Crusader, Lifestealing, Fiery Weapon, and +15 Agility. Each has their strengths and weaknesses. I prefer Crusader on my weapons because of the massive damage bonus it gives to all of my abilities when it procs. Lifestealing can lessen the load on your healer. Fiery Weapon generates a lot of threat, and +15 Agility can push your Dodge rating nice and high.

I’ll leave it at: I recommend Crusader, but can see the point of all the other enchants, too.

SHIELD

The PvP shield of choice is the Redbeard Crest (+6 Str, +3 Stam, 547 Armor, 11 Block). It’s the only shield under consideration with Strength on it, which makes it appealing for the boost to Block in addition to attack power. Because Warriors convert 2 points of Strength to 1 point of Block Value, the Redbeard Crest has an effective Block of 14.

However, the Armor on the Crest is low compared to the Arctic Buckler (+3 Stam, +8 Spirit, +5 Frost Resistance, 642 Armor, 13 Block). And that Armor is critical. From a tank’s perspective, you’re looking at exchanging 95 Armor for 1 Block and 12 AP. For Cynderblock, 95 Armor about 2.15% damage reduction from armor or — assuming she gets hit by mobs doing 50 damage with each swing — about 1.4 Block.

So the Arctic Buckler is a better shield for damage mitigation, though not for threat generation — the 12 AP is not trivial at this level. But if your threat gen is okay, it’s definitely the better shield.

The final contender is the Horde-only Deadskull Shield (+1 Str, +7 Stam, 611 Armor, 12 Block). This is the Stamina-stacker’s shield, with good armor and block and a boatload of Stamina. The Arctic Buckler gives about 1% more damage reduction for the cost of 40 health.

I think the Buckler edges out the Deadskull Shield just barely here, but just barely, and only because Armor is so damn good. If you’re Horde, you should get both — just to be safe.

DON’T FORGET THE DRINKS
Just like in PvP, the one buff you should make sure you always have active is the food buff from Rumsey Rum Black Label. Tanking while mildly intoxicated gives you a +15 Stamina bonus.

The fact that Cynderblock is a Dwarf has nothing to do with this. Honest.

*whistles innocently*

IT’S OKAY TO OVERGEAR THE INSTANCE

You know, I really expected the gear section to be a lot shorter than it turned out to be. I don’t know why; gear decisions at any level are difficult, and there are very few cues at level 19 as to what constitutes a tanking item versus a DPS item.

But once you build up your tank set, you’ll find that the lowbie instances become a heck of a lot of fun to run. (Yes, even Wailing Caverns.) You can be as aggressive with your pulls as your healer can handle. You’ve done your job properly in gearing for damage avoidance and mitigation. You’ve given yourself an insane health pool for the level — Cynderblock is at 1600, with buffs she’s usually around 1750-1850. Even a bad healer can keep her up and running with relative ease.

And best of all, you know that you will never have a fail tank in your group.

All reports point to Eye of the Storm as being the problem battleground for the School of Hard Knocks achievement. If guildmates who are skilled in PvP leave it frothing in rage, I can only imagine how inexperienced players are taking it.

There are two problems in EotS. First, your task can be easily disrupted by one player from either team. Because there is only one flag, someone can take the flag but refuse to capture it. And players from your own team can grief you — and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Second, mutual assistance pacts don’t work in EotS. You are in competition not only with your opponents, but also your own teammates to capture a flag. There’s no way to equally distribute the achievement across a random group, let alone cross-faction.

The advice I gave in my School of Hard Knocks post still applies: don’t give up. If this is the last thing standing between you and that 310%, you will kick yourself for an entire year if you give up now.

But if what you’re doing just isn’t working, then it’s time to try something new. If one strategy – going in solo to capture the flag – isn’t working, it’s time to try something new.

It’s time to go to war.

There are two days left in Children’s Week. It’s time to abandon your scruples, your reserve, and your solitary nature. It’s time to go in with a new goal: dominate EotS so that you and a few others on your team get the achievement done. It’s time to find the biggest, baddest PvPers on your server and promise them a bloodbath in exchange for your getting to run the flag.

If you’re at the end of your rope in EotS, it’s time to bring the gun into a knife fight. It’s time to get as many friends as you can to come and beat the crap out of your enemy.

By dominating the BG and bottling up your opponents, you remove half of your competition. Don’t feel bad for them, not for one second – there is no way for you and them to reach your goal together, so you’re going to reach it. Period. The BG isn’t set up that way. So you have to win to win.

And by making it a group with a controlled composition, you give yourself a great chance to either run the flag yourself or to have a teammate hand it over for you to cap. You remove the number of slots available to random people who can ruin your efforts.

Look at it this way — out of the 15 available slots on your team, the more you fill with either friends interested in helping you or server mates interested in killing the enemy, the less competition you have for the School of Hard Knocks.

So don’t go in alone. Bring friends. Lots of friends.

HOW TO RECRUIT YOUR TEAM

I heard the following last night in Trade.

LFG for that stupid School of Hard Knocks achievement, pst

This is not the way to go about assembling a team. You are not making a School of Hard Knocks premade. Advertising for that will get you the wrong kind of applicants – namely, people just like you who will compete for your goal. You do not want competition. You do not want inexperienced fighters.

Instead, you want the rough folks who are spoiling for a fight, the frustrated pvpers who want their battleground back. You want people who can calmly massacre hundreds of enemy players without batting an eye. You want to take the people who are griefing your opponents and use them to your advantage.

So instead of:

LFM School of Hard Knocks, EotS

Appeal to the PvPer with promises of glory and blood:

Looking for kickass PvPers to come help own EotS. I’d like to do some flag running while we pay the Horde/Alliance back for the last week. PST for info.

By stressing things like winning and revenge, you attract the folks who are spoiling for a fight. You want the PvPers in Wrathful who want to kick the shit out of people. And trust me, those people are out there.

If promising a bloodbath doesn’t work, resort to the oldest trick in the book: pay people. People are ultimately mercenaries, and if you offer them 100g to help you get this achievement, you will get people to help. Just remember to pay them after you get the achievement.

If you’re balking at that price, remember: you’re paying 1400g for a 310% mount. Keep that goal firmly in mind and the cost won’t matter.

Be sure to be up front with people when they do respond that you’re in it for the achievement, but stress that you want to win EotS. Be honest, but appeal to their motives, not yours.

Half of your team pressure the fourth base, while the other half goes and wipes out midfield.

Grab the flag (or have a teammate bring it to you.)

Bottle up the opponents at the fourth tower and/or graveyard.

Cap the flag.

Kill the opponent at the fourth base, drive them to the spawn point.

Win EotS.

PROFIT.

You can sum this up as:

Okay, first we take three bases, then split up and pressure the fourth base while wiping out midfield. Let me cap the flag, then we can take the fourth base and leave the Horde/Alliance in midfield as easy pickings.

Keep it simple. Three bases, then take the flag away once, then four-cap. Let your mercenaries do the rest. They know what they’re doing…. mostly. :-)

A LITTLE HELP FROM YOUR FRIENDS

It’s practically an axiom in my guild that 5 people (with or without vent) can completely dominate a battleground. I’ve seen this happen a lot — a core group of people working together in a PuG is vastly stronger than individuals trying to coordinate on their own.

So if you are still having problems with the School of Hard Knocks, find people to help you. If your guild won’t do it, recruit bloodthirsty, frustrated PvPers. If you can’t get them to sign on, pay them. Do whatever it takes to win. Do not give up. You can still do this.